Monday, February 28, 2011

Rolf Delfos studied classical music at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and modern at the Conservatory of Rotterdam. Plays and played with The Houdini’s, the Frank Grasso Bigband, Ugly White Belly, Tribute Band, Cubop City Bigband, Lois Lane, Frank Boeijen, the Auratones.Toured Portugal and Spain with the Paulo Gomes Group. Plays in the fine jazz saxophone quartet Artvark, teaches at the Conservatories of The Hague and Zwolle.

Bill Frisell and Vinicius Cantuaria‘s new album, Lagrimas Mexicanas, epitomizes a union of extraordinary musicians. Frisell’s and Cantuaria’s own music have clearly distinctive origins, but with complimentary styles. Through the blending of emotive rhythms and harmonies, and the melding of classic and experimental sounds, the two artists have found an easy home with one another. Lagrimas Mexicanas is scheduled for release on January 25, 2011 via Entertainment One Music. – JamBase

At Ronnie Scott’s last week, American guitarist Bill Frisell and Brazilian singer-songwriter Vinicius Cantuaria captivated the crowd, yet couldn’t quite capture the nuance and texture of this remarkable album. Lagrimas Mexicanas is Cantuaria’s collection of aural snapshots of Hispanic life in New York, traditional Latin materials sublimely transformed by cross-genre borrowings, which Frisell colours from his inimitable palette of jazz, blues and country sounds. Balefully angular electric guitar lines, bent-synth noises and bluesy wah-wah effects crisscross the coolly confessional Mi Declaracion. There’s a rockabilly feel to Cafezinho, a choral glow to El Camino (with Frisell making huge chiming sounds like churchbells), a Beatlesesque pop-ballad lilt to Lagrimas de Amor, and a Scott Joplinesque bounce to Briga de Namorados before it blurs into spacey impressionism. Calle 7, a standout track inspired by a walk down Seventh Avenue, is an irresistibly swinging song that manages to be both meditative and to capture the urgent streetlife. It’s a little classic. – Guardian

New album from the charismatic bassist/composer/singer & band leader Avishai Cohen.

Avishai Cohen is one of the most creative jazz men nowadays and as a bass player, he belongs to the most impressive musicians in modern jazz scene. Along with numerous collaborations with stars such as Kurt Rosenwinkel or Bobby McFerrin, his main part is composing, arranging, playing and performing his own music. Having a knowledge of playing piano, bass guitar and being formally educated in music, his compositions bear marks of classical, trained professionalism, but more importantly, they capture Cohen in his relaxed and cheerful position, being amused by playing music he loves.

Two years from his latest album Aurora, this Israeli-born bass player is releasing new portion of fresh material called Seven Seas, out on 28th February. As an appetizer, he gives the eponymous song for every subscriber to his newsletter for free (get it here, listen to it on my musicAddicted blog). And Seven Seas is amazingly joyful experience. He jumps through those four strings on his double bass elegantly and enthusiastically, while delightful piano (played probably by his long-time collaborator Shai Maestro) powerfully flows around it and Mark Guiliana performs all his percussion/drums tricks. It's captivating, floating, almost mesmerizing. Seven Seas finds Avishai Cohen in his best form - vigorous, full of drive and performing his cheerful, moving ideas. If the entire albums sounds like its first track, it's going to be a candidate for a jazz album of 2011.

The Yellowjackets began their recording career on the Warner Brothers label in 1981, recording three albums before moving to GRP where the band found commercial success during a ten-year stay. In 1995, they returned to the Warner fold to produce some of their best, maturest music. Dreamland, Blue Hats, and Club Nocturne found the band presenting contemporary jazz music of the highest caliber. However, this music had too much depth to qualify for the smooth jazz radio playlists of the late 1990s. As the year 2000 dawned, Warner released this fine compilation of Yellowjackets' work for that label. It's an interesting musical document which shows the beginnings of the band in their original incarnation with L.A. Express guitar alumnus Robben Ford, and later finding their voice after his departure. Then there's a ten-year quantum leap to the unmatched musical sophistication of the latter trio of classy recordings with Bob Mintzer in the sax chair. The producer's choice not to arrange the tracks in chronological order is probably a smart one from a listening standpoint. Still there's quite a juxtaposition between the rich complexities of the opening "New Rochelle" and "Spirit of the West," and the pop-styled '80s fusion/funk of "Daddy's Gonna Miss You" and "Matinee Idol" that follow. The pleasures of both eras cannot be denied, however, and this disc is rewarding from start to finish. "The Chosen" and "Summer Song" from Dreamland remain superb, and Kurt Elling's vocal on Mintzer's "Up From New Orleans is a classic awaiting discovery. Samurai Samba's "Homecoming" should be familiar, and the previously unreleased "Theme From Il Postino" provides a reason for the Yellowjackets completist to own this disc. Taken with Collection from the GRP era, The Best of Yellowjackets gives a tiny glimpse at the music of this excellent group, priming the pump for further exploration of their recorded legacy. ~ Jim Newsom